Some 9.4 million shares worth 2.3 million U.S. dollars were traded at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) on Monday as the bourse started the week on a low due to stifled foreign investors' participation.

The market had on Friday last week transacted 9.5 million dollars on a volume of 44 million shares. Foreign investors' participation during the session stood at 40 percent down from 74 percent last week.

Insurance firm Britam was the top traded stock transacting a paltry 3 million shares at 0.14 dollars, a marginal decline.

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecom was the second most traded stock moving 2.5 million shares at unchanged price of 0.23 dollars.

Other top traded stocks were investment firm ICDC, Kenya Airways and Home Afrika moving 800,000, 600,000 and 500,000 shares respectively. The five top shares accounted for 87 of Monday's total turnover.

The NSE 20 Share Index went down 9.65 points, losing an upward trend recorded in the past two sessions, to end the day at 3,594.41.

On the other hand, the NSE All share Index (NASI) was down 0.12 points to close at 152.12 points.

At the secondary bond market, turnover rose significantly to 263 percent to stand at 44 million dollars from 1 million dollars in the previous session.